


The Chance in Circumstance

by viraseii



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: First Kiss, Implied/Referenced Torture, Interrogation, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 19:19:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15847695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viraseii/pseuds/viraseii
Summary: It’s like fate pulls them together. Neither of them can move on without the other. When James pushes to the top of his class, Keith pulls through on sheer talent. When Keith disappears into space, James rises to lead the Garrison’s elite fighting force.It’s like they’re meant to cross paths. Again and again, until they become one.Which is why even though the hostages are safe, there’s no way Griffin can leave Keith behind with the Galra.





	The Chance in Circumstance

**Author's Note:**

> JEITH JEITH JEITH JEITH JEI

Innocence is dead.

That’s what James thinks when he sees Keith for the first time in six years. A deep scar from his right jaw almost up to his eye, hair longer than he’s ever seen it, figure strong and easily filling out the alien armor he wears. Last time James talked to Keith, he’d been telling him off for going off on Iverson especially when he already had a bad rep among the Garrison staff. Keith had said “you don’t know anything about it,” and then had promptly vanished from James’s life.

He knows he’s exactly the same the moment James shoots down the drone patrol - whirling around, eyes blazing, growling, “I had it!” And he’s been dealing with Nadia long enough to know that the best counter to emotion is logic, and he’s firing off a response before he even registers that - god, he looks so much… bigger. Older, of course, it should be obvious - but James can’t help taking time to adjust to the difference.

Keith in his mind is short, afraid, defensive, closed off from people.

Keith talking to Lance over the comms for guidance through the base they’re infiltrating now is - different. He trusts Lance without question, that’s for sure, which James supposes is to be expected, given what the five of them have been through - but it’s still something new for him. He doesn’t think the two of them ever talked before everything that happened happened.

Keith has a wolf. That’s interesting.

Keith is… older, but not just by time - he’s older in the same way all the survivors at the Garrison are older. He’s worn. Seen tough times. Lived through war, and is still stuck in the fight. He’s in control, calling the shots like he was born to lead. He’s confident. He’s … he seems happier, provided James knows what happy even looks like on Keith. And he’s, objectively, more attractive, but that’s something that confuses James and he doesn’t want to think about it and instead he puts his mind to the present.

There’s something else. There’s respect. Toward him, that’s the first thing James notices - Keith respects him and he respects the rest of the MFE pilots. He respects Iverson. He respects his team and admiral Sanda. The Keith James used to know only had eyes for Shiro and didn’t care to make time for anyone else. This Keith is… he’s whole. That’s the only way James can describe everything that’s changed.

It twinges at his chest in some aching way. He’d call it nostalgia, but it’s something… less rosy. Something sadder.

-

James visits Keith in the hospital when he awakes. The two Galra he thinks are Keith’s family aren’t in the room, which he’s kind of grateful for - he thinks it’ll be a little hard to talk to Keith if his mother was there with them.

“I wanted to say-” James struggles to figure out what he wanted to say. “Thank you. You’re… Thank you for everything you’ve done to protect Earth. Without Voltron this planet would be gone, and…” That’s not it. That’s not at all what he wants to say - he doesn’t know what he wants to _say._

Keith chuckles roughly. “I should be thanking you. You and the rest of the Garrison have done so much to keep fighting against Sendak and his faction.” His eyes grow dark. “He was the first enemy we encountered up there. I wish we’d have killed him when we had the chance.”

The words take James aback. He settles into a chair near Keith’s bedside as the other boy lifts himself up into a sitting position. “There’s no way you could have anticipated any of this. It’s not… your fault.”

“I didn’t say that.”

James stays silent.

“I just wish… well.” He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter.” Then he makes eye contact with James. “You’ve changed.”

James raises an eyebrow. “So have you.” He nods toward the stripe of darker flesh spearing up from Keith’s jaw. “That looks painful. You’ve gone through a lot.”

“It happened during a fight. With Shiro.”

“Shiro?”

“He wasn’t himself.”

 _Clearly._ After everything he’s seen between Keith and Shiro, it’s…. _Ridiculous_ to think that Shiro is the one who gave him that.

They chat and it’s amiable, and James still isn’t sure what it is he wanted to say in the first place, until it tumbles out of his traitorous mouth. “I missed you.”

Keith doesn’t answer. His eyes stay on James’s and his mouth is slightly parted but he’s just studying him.

“I missed you.” James swallows. “I kept thinking about you, after you were expelled, because I kept thinking maybe I could have stopped you from getting kicked or something, and then after we heard you’d broken into the crash site when Shiro was on Earth again for a bit. I.. I don’t know. We’ve known each other for so long, and it feels crazy that… that all this has happened and here we are.”

Keith’s eyes fall to his hands in his lap. It’s the first time he’s lowered his gaze the entire conversation. “I know how you feel.” Pause. “It’s good to see you, Griffin.”

It feels like a weight’s off his chest. “It’s good to see you too, Kogane.”

-

There are small groups of Galra terrorists all over the world. Taking them out is what the Voltron Paladins and James’s MFE squad does for the next few months. Somalia, Russia, Niger, Chile, Antarctica - they have bases that keep cropping up in Garrison alerts everywhere. Keith and James are together for a hostage extraction mission in eastern Mongolia the first time they kiss.

It’s not anticipated, at all.

The mission goes horribly wrong.

They’re supposed to be covert, they’re supposed to just go in, free people, load them onto the MFE ship Pidge integrated with shielding, and get out. James has done several of these before, he knows Keith has done several of these before - he knows this should be perfectly within capability.

But when he’s confident is when he starts slacking.

Their comm link is severed. Keith was clearing a path through the north exit point and James was setting off an explosion in the south wing to draw attention away from the hostages held in the northeast part of the base. It goes without a hitch until James gets to the hostages and realizes - Keith isn’t there.

He’d assumed earlier that Keith’s silence when he’d updated him and let him know he’d successfully set off the explosion just meant Keith had listened and acknowledged. He should know better. He should know anything short of an “affirmative” means _something is wrong._ It’s his fault - he _should have been more alert!_

He takes a deep breath as everything snaps into place. Priority is finishing the mission. If Keith didn’t manage to make it to the holding room, that means James should assume there are guards or at least sentries covering the north exit. It’s still the closest exit, so it’s still his destination - it means he’ll have to trust the hostages to follow him if they want to make it out alive.

He announces as much quietly to the room, using the device Hunk engineered to disengage the handcuffs around peoples’ wrists.

And the rest of it continues without a hitch, too - Keith is gone but only two guards come in James’s way and he makes short work of them, leading the prisoners to his ship concealed near the north wing.

It’s too easy. Which can only mean they’re letting him go - letting him go why? Because - why? Why would they give away their bargaining chip?

James knows already.

He sets the MFE fighter to autopilot and manually sets up its takeoff path. He points to one woman with glasses who looks like she can handle herself and instructs her to keep people together and let the Garrison know Keith is compromised and James intends to make it back with him. “You’re in charge. Get everyone back safely. Radio the Garrison once you’ve crossed the North American border to let them know your situation.”

She nods. “Good luck,” she wishes him. He nods and heads back into the base.

Because he’s finished the mission, but now the Galra have so much more than a few innocent civilians.

As expected, the Galra are clustered near the south wing, and as soon as James steps into it, there’s a force of at least 12 soldiers waiting to apprehend him.

The commander walks up to meet James at eye level. “Your species,” he says calmly, “is too easy to manipulate.”

-

Keith is furious. The Galra shove them into one cell together - and Keith, with his bloody mouth and his abdomen torn open - somehow has enough energy to chew James out, seething, for coming after him.

“I made sure the hostages got out,” James protests. “I wasn’t going to leave you!”

“You- you got yourself trapped here _with_ me,” Keith hisses. The wild, panicked, desperate look in his eyes is enough to pull James’s stomach out through the soles of his feet. “I thought if I told them you were messing things up in the south wing, it would give you enough time to escape, but-” he screams in frustration. “Why are you here?! Why did you come back for me?”

“Because I care about you!” James says helplessly. “Four years I thought you were dead in space, and when you came back you can’t imagine what it meant to me.”

Keith just stares at him helplessly. Then he winces, tipping his head back against the wall, and James crouches next to him, gently placing both hands on his shoulders.

“I’m going to get you out of here, Keith,” he promises.

Keith opens his eyes in a glare. “You’re going to get _us_ out of here. Griffin.”

James cracks a smile. “Yeah, seems like a better option to me.”

But Keith’s condition is bad. The Galra drag them out to send a transmission to the Garrison - they have two hours to hand over Voltron and the Galra will leave planet Earth alone, or James dies. Negotiations closed. And Keith will be interrogated for information.

The thought of Keith being interrogated for information chills James to the bone. He’s seen the cruelty of this race up close - he’s lucky to be one of the few spared from the Galra methods of subjugation. But that’s just what they do to normal citizens they take over - what do they do to prisoners of war?? Keith’s already barely hanging on, breathing ragged, wound gaping wide in his side. It’s cauterized from the blast that caused it, but James is sure that if it was him in Keith’s place, he’d be dead by now. It makes him shudder to think about what Keith went through to make him so strong.

He’s vulnerable like this, though. His usual mask of a scowl isn’t there to hide the fear that enters his eyes as the Galra reveal their terms to the Garrison. Seeing Keith scared like that - after all he must have gone through - it terrifies James until he can’t think.

Keith can, though, evidently. Over an hour’s passed and James is trying his hardest to imagine what any of his teammates would be doing in his situation, and Keith murmurs, “Kiss me.”

“What?” It’s weak, barely even a question, barely even a whisper. Hoarse.

“Kiss me, please.” Keith’s eyes are on him, those thousand-year-old eyes that James can never get a read on. “I don’t want to be in a reality where this all goes wrong and - and I never once even kissed you.”

James’s eyes fall down to Keith’s lips. The blood was wiped off long ago, and now they’re dry and his breath is coming and going in shallow pants. Keith’s tongue pokes out to lick them and James’s breathing starts jumping back and forth erratically.

It feels like his heart breaks when he makes the decision to lean forwards. It should be the happiest he’s ever felt but it’s not - he brings his hand up to fold into Keith’s hair and he feels like sobbing. He lets their foreheads touch first, feeling Keith’s warm breath ghost over every tiny hair covering his face, skin tingling. Keith pushes closer and they’re nosing against each other, so close and so tender and so soft, and James is just millimeters away from Keith’s lips. It feels like he can touch them already - he can’t tell if there’s contact or not, but electricity is dancing between their closest point of contact.

James lets his lips part and tilts his head to the side, slotting his mouth over Keith’s. A tear leaks out from the corner of his traitorous eye, and suddenly he can’t stand it - can’t stand the fact that this could be, could really be the last time he ever sees Keith. The last time he ever sees life, but Keith feels more important than that. He can’t stand it and both his hands come up to secure Keith’s jaw under his mouth, a soft gasp for air stuttering out of his lungs to break their kiss before James connects them together again.

And the door opens.

“Touching.”

They break apart but James refuses to leave Keith’s gaze. He wants those eyes to be the last thing he sees.

Rough hands seize him around the shoulders and jerk him up.

He shuts his eyes as soon as he rounds the corner and Keith is out of sight.

-

They don’t kill him. No, instead they strap him to a wall or an upright table, from what he can feel. He refuses to open his eyes - he doesn’t want to see what’s going to happen. He doesn’t want to leave the memory of Keith’s lips on his, rough and dry but so gentle, eyes shining with fear and love. He doesn’t want to ruin that.

“ _What are you doing?!_ ”

His eyes snap open.

It’s Keith.

He’s held back by two guards - they’re shoving him through the entrance to the small room. His eyes are glued to James’ face, horrified and panicked. There’s a tiny bit of relief there - at seeing that James is not dead, at seeing he’s awake, at seeing he’s unharmed - something. He’s struggling against the Galra holding him, but his face is pale and sweaty. He’s not at full strength and there’s no possible way for him to break through their iron hold.

The Galra commander walks in behind him. “Improvising,” he answers. “It’s not complicated. I understand this pilot is of value to you, Red Paladin.”

“He’s got no information to give you,” Keith begs. “I’m the one who has what you’re looking for.”

“We’re not trying to get information out of the pilot,” the commander says calmly. “I’m going to ask you some questions. You will comply.”

“Fat chance,” Keith growls.

“In that case,” the commander says. The guards shove Keith toward a panel to James’s left. “You know what to do.” Keith’s eyes widen. James isn’t sure what’s going on, but one thing is clear as day-

“Give them nothing, Keith,” he says, voice low and calm, completely different from how he feels on the inside.

The commander huffs in amusement. “Let’s begin. Outline your plans of attack on the Galra base locations, who will be carrying them out, and when they are most vulnerable.”

Keith is shaking. He glances once at the panel, once at James. He keeps holds his gaze as he calmly says, “Tomorrow Lance and Leifsdottir-”

“Keith!” James roars.

“-Plan to attack on the Galra base in Korea. It’s an air-bombing mission. They’ll be vulnerable as soon as they cross the North American border. Their defenses will be lowered while they’re at sea.” He swallows. “But you’re delusional if you think Lance won’t shoot you all down while you’re still specks on the horizon.”

“I’ll take my chances,” The commander purrs. “Continue.”

“Don’t!” James shouts. “Keith, don’t give them this information! What are you doing?!”

Keith shuts his eyes and ignores James’ pleas. He continues to outline the plans they’ve laid out for the next week.

And so it goes.

Until the commander asks Keith to call his lion to them.

Keith looks at James helplessly. James shakes his head. “I can’t do that,” he says. His voice is weak. “I’m - I can’t do that. Let him go, ask me whatever you want, please.” But James knows whatever it is Keith is asking them for, it’s useless. Pleading is just amusing to these aliens.

“If you can’t call the Black Lion to this base, then you have a second option,” the commander says, gesturing to the panel in front of Keith. One of the guards shoves his arm forward so his fingers are hovering over it.

“Don’t give them the lion, Keith,” James warns.

Keith shakes his head. “I won’t.” And then his face crumples. “I’m sorry.”

His fingers slide something up on the panel.

And all James knows is pain.

-

They’re rescued by Lance.

Hours after the first shock James feels like his insides are melting from all the questions Keith can’t answer. The first break he gets is when everything in the building suddenly shuts down and he crumples to the floor, released from the table but unable to hold himself up. There’s the sound of a struggle and grunts - a scream that is most definitely Keith’s that convinces James he can’t let his eyes close, not yet.

The heat in the room surges and blistering air rushes their way as the right wall melts away in a stream of lava, and then there’s a giant metal cat head in its place and Lance standing in its open maw, gun blazing.

Rizavi is with him. She rushes to James, and he finally lets sleep get the best of him.

-

“I thought you were dead,” she’s crying at his bedside, speaking through hiccups. “You’re my best friend, Griffin, and the higher ups were taking so long to come up with a plan - and-” she takes a moment to get her breath back in her lungs. “I thought they’d killed you and we were too late and I’d never see you again - I couldn’t do that-”

She stops abruptly, eyes searching his for something. “Rizavi,” he says, voice rough and throat dry. “I’m here.” He smiles.

The door opens, then, and Keith’s standing there, eyes widening when he sees Nadia and glancing back and forth between the two. “I can come back-”

“No, it’s fine, I was just leaving,” Nadia says hurriedly. “I just - I’m glad you’re safe, Griffin.” She gives him a fierce hug before swiftly making her exit.

The door closes behind her and Keith walks forward, but the look on his face is lost, like he’s not in control of his own body. James watches him, searching for - for anything, he doesn’t know what. They’ve been through something together - and maybe it’s nothing new for Keith - and that hurts - but it sure is something life-changing for James - and he’s - he doesn’t like to admit it but - he’s scared.

“I am so sorry,” is the first thing Keith says, sinking into the chair Nadia left behind and dropping his head in his hands. “That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, James, I am so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” James said softly. “You did what you had to do. I’d be disappointed if it was anything less.”

“I don’t care,” Keith says, and of course he doesn't. He leans forward, supporting his weight on his arms on either side of James. “I don’t want to see you hurt like that. I don’t want to - I won’t ever let it happen again.”

James’s cheeks are heating from how close he is. “I know. I trust you. But you did the right thing.”

Keith makes a frustrated noise, something low in his throat. “Forget about the right thing, for once, James,” he growls. He pushes forward insistently, climbing up to straddle James’ hips, hands roaming up to clutch at James’s hair as he tilts his head and kisses him.

It’s not like the one they shared earlier. Keith’s still injured and James is supporting him by his sides, but he’s passionate and insistent like he is in everything else, demanding, taking from James what he wants. And James offers it up gladly. He lets Keith work his mouth open, lets him explore him with his tongue, lets Keith push him back until he’s lying on top of him and their lips are slipping over each other and their breathing melts into one synchronized rhythm.

It’s grounding.


End file.
